In Her Little Hand
by Snappieta
Summary: Just a super quick short bored write after watching the Mad Mod episode. Not very good at writing thick British accents but oh well. This is probably the hugest stretch ever but it's what came to mind c: Rated T because it's pretty sad. Disclaimer: I don't own Mad Mod nor Teen Titans


Ever wonder why 'Mad Mod' typically calls the Teen Titans "Li'l duckies"? Why does he pretend to be a teacher to 'teach' the Titans to  
'behave' when he used to be a fashion designer? It all started back when 'Moddie' was actually Neil Richards. Just before he was a Carnaby Street fashion designer...

Neil was just 29 years old when he had his divorce with his wife, Annie, but had recieved custody of his 5 year old daughter, Emily. They lived in a small apartment in London due to his ex-wife stealing nearly everything he owned. He constantly attempted to find a new full time job so he could help give his daughter a better home and life. The search was not going very well for him, and he was still living paycheck to paycheck with the small job he had.

Emily walked up to her father who was busy sitting at his desk, stressing over his bills, when she pulled his pant-leg. He sighed and looked down at the little red head who was holding up a piece of paper with a scribbly yellow drawing on it, smiling expectantly. He smiled, taking the drawing in his hand to look at it closer, "Well, wouldya look at that!"

"It's a ducky!" She grinned, waiting to hear her father compliment her masterpiece.

"It's just lovely! You're becoming quite the li'l artist aren't you?" Neil smiled, slightly messing up her hair playfully.

She giggled running off to the living room area to start drawing yet another drawing with her worn down crayons. Not able to deal with the bills any longer, he decided to take a break and begin thinking of something for dinner, seeing as it was now 6:38 PM. He went to the small kitchen and opened the pantry only to find scarce amounts of food. Rubbing the back of his neck, he looked over in the direction of his daughter then back to his pantry. "There's gotta be somethin-"

Noticing a jar of peanut butter in the far back and remembering a half full jar of jam in the fridge, Neil sighed, "It'll do, I guess.."

After making two peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches, the tired man sat down at the small wooden dinner table with his and his daughter's 'dinner'. "Dinner's done!" He said moderately loud.

Emily ran over to the table with another scribbly drawing in her hand, then questioned after sitting down, "PBJ for dinner?"

"I was a tad too lazy to cook tonight." He smiled, hiding his shame for not being able to provide a decent dinner for his daughter.

She shrugged, then grinned, "I drew somethin' again."

"Lemme see then!" Neil said enthusiastically.

Excited, the little red head hopped off her chair and walked over to her father, holding up her art work. He looked at it and chuckled, "Another ducky?"

She nodded happily. "I think they're really cute!"

He chuckled again, "Hurry up now and finish your sanwhich."

Later that night, Neil tucked his daughter in bed, turned off her lght and was about to close the door until he heard Emily say goodnight in a weak, tired voice.

"Goodnight, my li'l ducky." He smiled before closing the door to go to bed.

The sun rose above a few grey clouds and an obnoxious alarm clock rang loudly, resulting in being hit by a grumpy and tired red head. Neil got up to get ready for his small day job, but had to wake up Emily for school first. He opened the door only to see his daughter sitting up in her bed rubbing her head complaining that she had a headache. Giving her a little pain killer medicine, he sent her off to school when she was ready.

After a week, Emily began to have her headaches again, and Neil thought it'd be best to take a few days off work and let her stay home for a little. "Just lay down for a bit and I'll make you something to eat." The little red head nodded slightly and waddled her way off into her room to sleep.

A few minutes later, he finished heating up a can of chicken noodle soup and carried it off to his daughter's room, who was now in a deep sleep. He smiled, turned off her lights and walked back outside to the living room to finish the soup himself.

Another week passed and Emily's headaches seemed to be getting worse each time, sometimes resulting in her waking up in the middle of the night with a headache. Finally Neil had enough of worrying and decided to take her to the doctor. The doctor listened to the man talk about his daughter's predicament before saying hesitantly, "Let's just do a few small tests.."

He then proceeded to do small checks such as her vision, balance, hearing, reflexes, and coordination. Noticing a few complications with her vision, he double checked. The doctor sighed, "I'm going to schedule her for another test."

"Is there a problem, doc?"

"I'm not sure yet, one more test may prove me wrong... or right.."

Neil opened his mouth to shower the doctor in questions but bit his tongue. He hesitantly asked, "What test do you plan on doing?"

The doctor looked at the ground then back up and the worried red headed man, "A Lumbar puncture... a spinal tap."

He looked at his daughter then the floor, and rubbed his temples in frustration. He repeated to himself that she was fine but wanted to be sure. After a few moments, he sighed and agreed, "Fine..."

Hours after the Lumbar puncture, Emily walked over to her father with a big frown and whined, "I have a headache again."

The nurse that was with Emily smiled, "Sometimes that'll happen... How about I get you a sucker? You're headache will go away shortly, love."

The red head grinned and nodded, then waited for the nurse to come back with a sucker for her. Niel knelt down and hugged his little girl, giving her a high five afterwards, "That's my brave li'l ducky!"

Emily giggled lightly then furiously unwrapped the sucker so she could eat it. The nurse took Neil to the side and told him to make sure his daughter gets a lot of fluids at home and takes it easy for a while. He nodded then soon took his daughter back home.

A little later, Neil laid the little red head down in bed and tucked her in. He read her a story for a bit to help her sleep then left the room, turning off the lights, once she fell asleep.

Weeks went by waiting for a result to come back and Neil thought it'd be a good idea to homeschool Emily, since she'd already missed so many days of school, and he was still using the little vacation time he had. He was in the middle of teaching her very simple addition, when he was notified about the results and was requested to come back to the hospital.

Immediately, he hurried with his daughter back to the hospital and were met with the doctor again in his office. The doctor sighed, rubbed the bridge of his nose and began, his tone sounding very low, "I don't know how to put this softly..."

Before knowing what it was, Neil could feel tears gathering in his eyes, and he held his daughter's hand a little tighter.

"Your daughter has brainstem gliomas... It's a very large brain tumor. And at this stage she's in now... there's nothing we can do."

He slowly fell to his knees in disbelief, holding his daughter in a close embrace. The tears wouldn't stop from falling and he couldn't make out a single word to say. Emily, not so sure of what the doctor had said, hugged her father back and said in a somewhat calm voice, "It's okay dad."

Neil bit his lip to fake a smile for his daughter, but failed miserably as he looked to the ground, trying to pull it together. He looked at his daughter, and attempted a smile before standing up to wipe a few tears. He held his daughter before asking in a shaky voice, "So, doc," he sniffs, "What next..?"

"Well, seeing how late she is, I would say she may need to stay here."

He opened and closed his mouth, wanting to say something, but trying to find his voice to, "H-how... How much longer...?"

"I would say roughly... 6 weeks.."

Biting his lip again and looking down to the ground, Neil sniffed again and shook his head slightly in complete denial. He let out a heavy sigh before putting his daughter back down on the ground, but never let go of her hand.

It's been 4 weeks. Emily has already had 2 seizures so far, occasional vomiting, and her headache that never seems to go away. She lay in her hospital bed, looking very sickly. But as usual, she was always found doodling with her crayons on her little table, then hand them off to her father. She seemed to always draw a little yellow 'ducky', forgetting about the previous one she had drawn for her father already. Each time she handed it to him smiling, "It's a ducky!"

Neil sat next to his daughter, watching her draw yet another yellow ducky, jamming her crayon too hard on the paper, but enjoying herself. He notice she began to slow down on the yellow, but finally handing the masterpiece yet again to him. She smiled faintly, and said in a weak voice, "It's... a ducky..." Her eyes slowly began to close and the machine began to beep louder.

Her father stood up and held his daughter's hands, yelling her name in concern. Soon a few nurses came in and asked him to stand back. He refused, and fought back, holding on to his daughter's hands for what was the last time, shouting her name desperately. Eventually he was shoved aside, but it was too late. The machine was now making a steady noise, showing no heart pulse. Neil stared at his daughter while the nurses tried their best to do anything to bring her back, tears falling to the floor without him even blinking. He shouted her name one last time before falling to his knees. The nurses soon turned off the machine and allowed him to say his last few words.

Holding his daughter's hand, he very shakily stuttered, "G-goodnight... my l-li'l ducky..."

Just before he was excorted out, he noticed his daughter holding something.

It was a worn down yellow crayon... in her little hand.


End file.
